Top 10 Secrets They Don't Want You to Know About the Debates
Civil rights attorney and NPR commentator Connie Rice has another quality Top Ten. Be sure to read the whole thing.
10. They aren't debates!
"A debate is a head-to-head, spontaneous, structured argument over the merits of an issue," Rice says. "Under the ridiculous 32-page contract that reads like the rules for the Miss America Pageant, there will be no candidate-to-candidate questions, no rebuttal to your opponent's points, no cross questions or cross answers, no rebuttals, no follow-up questions -- that's not a debate, that's a news conference."
9. The debates were hijacked from the truly independent League of Women Voters in 1986.
8. The "independent and non-partisan" Commission on Presidential Debates is neither independent nor non-partisan.
7. The secretly negotiated debate contract bars Kerry and Bush from any and all other debates for the entire campaign.
6. The debate contract effectively excludes all other serious presidential candidates from participating in the debates.
5. All members of the studio audience must be certified as "soft" supporters of Bush and Kerry, under selection procedures they approve.
4. These "soft" audience members must "observe in silence."
3. The "extended discussion" portion of the debate cannot exceed 30 seconds.
2. Important issues are locked out by the CPD debate rules and party control.
1. Fortune 100 corporations are the main funders of the CPD-sponsored debates, and the CPD's co-chairs are corporate lobbyists.
More Connie Commentaries
posted by Chuck Olsen @ 6:22 PM |
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3 Comments:
Hilarious! I still can't quite figure out why, in 2004, the political establishment can't countenance an open debate or three... Part of what we want in a President is the ability to lead under pressure, right? Why not debates with the heat turned on high: tough questions, real issues (e.g. national health care, abortion, social security, wages, regressive taxes).
I posted some other links (nearly all relevant to Connie's top ten) here:
But what's puzzling you is the nature of our game
That's pretty much why I voted for Clinton, twice. Whether or not he was involved in "real" debates, he gave the impression of being able to listen well, digest information quickly, and respond to it clearly, appropriately, and in a way that made his point.
I don't trust Kerry to do that in 30 seconds, because his entire career has been spent explaining things and having things explained to him in 60-minute meetings. I don't trust Bush to do that, ever, at all.
- Erik
If there's a 32 page contract that is public, how is this a secret?
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